Dover rallies late to upend Bobcats

Thursday

Feb 21, 2013 at 3:15 AM

By Mike Whaleymwhaley@fosters.com

DURHAM — One bounce and all of Joe Johnston’s frustration was gone.

The Dover High School’s senior forward’s third-period shot from the middle of the slot was initially stopped by Oyster River goalie Brennan Young. But the puck bounced up and over Young and slid into the open goal behind him to put the Dover boys hockey team ahead for good, 3-2.

Johnston’s goal capped a third-period comeback that saw the Green Wave (11-5-1) trailing 2-1 after Oyster River’s Griffin Sperry scored his second goal on a breakaway at 3:48.

“He stopped the initial shot and I saw it pop up,” Johnston said. “It was in the air for a good five seconds. I was watching it, hoping it would roll back and it did. Finally we got a bounce.”

But the Green Wave, still in the hunt for a second-round home ice in the upcoming 10-team D-II tourney, scored twice in a 4:15 period to win the game.

Brett Baumgardner netted his first varsity goal at 6:15 from Ben Henderson and Josh Cadorette to knot the score at 2-all, and Johnston followed that up with his game-winner at 10:29, which came after an OR turnover.

“He was knocking on the door kind of the whole game,” said Dover coach Steve Riker. “He couldn’t get a bounce or couldn’t get it through a guy’s skate. He finally is able to get one to go at the end. Hopefully that gets him going because we’re going to need him here in the next few games.”

Oyster River dropped to 7-5-5. The Bobcats are in the tournament, but are now fighting for the No. 8 or 9 seed, which would give them a first-round playoff home game on Feb. 27. OR finishes its regular season Saturday at No. 2 Spaulding, while Dover will play at 9-7 Kingswood the same day.

“Unfortunately we had a bad turnover,” OR coach Griff Richard said. “(Our player) thought he was going to get more of the puck and he didn’t get it out of the zone. Obviously it hurt us.”

Dover took a 1-0 lead at 2;56 of the first period when Mitchell Welch scored during a scramble in front from Henderson and Cam Crowley.

But Johnston picked up a roughing penalty in front of the Dover bench with 1:19 to go in the period and OR made the Green Wave pay.

CJ Jerry’s slap shot from the left point was stopped by Dover goalie Luc Ravenelle. The rebound hit the right post and Sperry was there to clean it up for the equalizer.

“They got a goal and it kind of changed the momentum of the period, which we were controlling,” Riker said.

A pivotal point came in the scoreless second period when a scrum in front of the Dover goal led to a minor fracas and four penalties — three on Dover.

OR had a 5 on 3 for two minutes, but lost its cool 41 seconds into the two-man advantage. Trevar Delisle turned the puck over in the Dover zone, which the Green Wave cleared, and he whacked his stick hard on the boards near his team bench. He received a two-minute minor for unsportsmanlike behavior and also a 10-minute minor.

Despite all the activity (there was even a 3 on 3 for a short stretch), neither team was able to score.

“Obviously us giving back the 5 on 3 without any threats of momentum was a huge swing back for them,” said OR’s Richard. “It was a tough mental breakdown for our team at the wrong time in a crucial game. It’s stuff we need to tighten up or our playoffs are going to be short lived.”

Sperry then put the Bobcats up 2-1 in the third, but Dover was able to counter.

Riker admitted Baumgardner’s tying goal came as a surprise.

“Really we were trying to give our top two lines a rest,” Riker said. “And the kid ends up popping it in, and it’s his first high school goal. It couldn’t have come at a better time. Good for him, sitting on the bench almost the entire game and he makes it count.”

Dover was sitting in fifth before Wednesday’s game and Riker figures they need to beat Kingswood and then have Bedford lose twice (or lose and tie) to league-leading Merrimack to have a shot at a top-four slot, which would mean home ice on March 2 in the quarters.